”Is there a God?”

 n the morning a man asked Gautam Buddha, ”Is there a God?” 

And Gautama said, ”No, there is no God.” 

In the afternoon another man asked, ”What do you think about God?” 

Gautama said, ”Yes, God is.” 

Buddha's disciple Ananda, who was continuously with him, was in. He started having a migraine. What kind of man is this? In the morning he says, ”There is no God,” and in the afternoon he has forgotten completely, and he is saying, ”There is God.” 

He waited for the time in the night when there would be nobody around, but before that a third person came in the evening, sat down and asked Gautama, ”I have no conception either for or against God. Just help me to understand.” 

And Gautam Buddha did not say anything to the man, but on the contrary simply closed his eyes, remained silent. Seeing this, the other man also closed his eyes and sat. He thought perhaps Buddha was going to say something in his silence and they both remained in silence for two hours. 

The man felt so beautiful and so fresh and so young, so rejuvenated, that after two hours he opened his eyes and he was a changed man. He touched Gautam Buddha’s feet, thanked him and told him, ”I was not expecting that much. You have given me more than I had asked. You have given me a taste. I had come only to ask a question; you have taken me to the experience itself. I will remain grateful to you my whole life.” 

In the night Ananda said, ”You should at least think of me. The whole day I have been in such a trouble.  What kind of man are you?  In the morning you say no, in the afternoon you say yes, in the evening you don’t say anything, but just remain silent – and that fellow gets the answer and you have not said anything.” 

Buddha said, ”The first man, to whom I said, ‘There is no God,’ was an atheist, and he had come to get a confirmation of his atheism, that if Gautam Buddha also is an atheist, then there is no problem. Atheism is certainly the right approach. There is no God. 

”The second man had also come for confirmation of his own prejudice. He was a theist and he wanted support. They were not seekers, they were only asking for consolation. They had already got the idea; they were simply asking me to support their ideas. They were satisfied with their ideas without ever moving into any new space. 

”But the third man was really a seeker. He plainly said, ‘I don’t have any idea for or against.’ For such a man only silence is the answer. And because he had no prejudice, seeing me closing my eyes and becoming silent, he immediately understood the hint. He closed his eyes and he went deep into silence. Although I had not said anything to him, he went away immensely richer than he had come. 

”And Ananda,” Buddha said, ”you should not be disturbed, because none of these questions were yours. It is not your problem.” 

Ananda said, ”It is not my problem, but I have ears and I am always close to you.” 

Buddha said, ”You will have to learn that I don’t have any fixed philosophy so that I can hand over immediately ready-made  answers. I have to see the person, his capacity. I don’t want to insult anybody. I don’t want to give something which they cannot understand, which is going to be over their heads.”